


this life and every life

by narada-talis (sarensen)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Post-Season/Series 07
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 00:49:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16821811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarensen/pseuds/narada-talis
Summary: He manages to pry his own fist open by sheer force of will, hurrying to push the ring down over one large, metal finger. It fits. By some miracle, it fits.Keith can’t help a tearful smile, unable to meet Shiro’s eyes when he says, “And even if you don’t want to spend the rest of your life with me, I still want you to take the ring, so every time you look at it you can remember that this arm… saved me. Saved everyone. And that you’re amazing. And that I love you.”





	this life and every life

In the grand scheme of things, a few months isn’t a long time when it comes to Keith and perseverance and searching for things related to Shiro.

Nonetheless, by the time he eventually finds what he’s been looking for, he’s teetering on the edge of frustration. He snaps at the jeweler about something, then immediately apologizes. She’s only trying to help.

The ring is huge. It has to be, to fit Shiro’s massive prosthetic fingers. It’s important to Keith for the ring to go on that hand, and not his human one. 

He clutches the ring tightly in one fist, heavy and silver and burning a circle into his palm when he finds Shiro that night. He’s thankfully alone in the cockpit of the Atlas, far too long past last shift.

Keith isn’t nervous at all, which should surprise him; then again, he doesn’t think he’s ever felt nervous in Shiro’s presence. Not even when Shiro had tried to kill him. Desperate, yes. Scared. But not of Shiro - _never_ Shiro, not even when he’d had blazing purple fire eating into his cheek, not even when someone else had looked out at him from behind Shiro’s eyes.

Keith’s been in love with Shiro since he was fifteen.

Gentle orange light blurs the shadows under Shiro’s eyes - he’d told Keith once the Atlas sounds the way this light looks, in his mind: warm, comfortable. Shiro looks tired.

Keith loves him.

He squeezes the ring in his fist and hugs Shiro from behind, resting his chin on his shoulder, infinitely glad for their privacy.

He thinks Shiro says something, but his mind is too full with what he’s about to do, and he doesn’t even try to reply. He simply turns Shiro around and pushes him down onto the command console and clambers up into his lap without preamble. Floating orange screens flicker and slide around and away as the Atlas makes space for them on the countertop. Keith talks over whatever protest Shiro’s about to make with, “Look. I have a lot to say and I’m not very good at sayin’ things, so just… sit down and shut up for a second, okay?”

Shiro does. As if he would ever say no to Keith.

Keith’s heart is suddenly beating like he’s in a fight, hands clammy with sweat. He swallows dryly, and takes Shiro’s prosthetic in his free hand. (The other is still tightly closed around the ring.)

When the thoughts have ordered themselves in his head, he starts: “Your arm. This arm. You know how important it is, right?”

Shiro blinks. “Uh?”

Keith squeezes the metal palm. “Back then. Before Kerberos, when you were… you know. You went into space despite everyone saying you couldn’t. Despite them tryin’ to stop you. And if you hadn’t, then Matt and Commander Holt would have died.”

“I don’t…”

“Shiro, listen. Please. The Galra took you and you lost that arm. And the one they gave you… it was enemy tech, but you used it to save so many people. So many, Shiro.”

Shiro is quiet now, looking at Keith with a small frown. Keith has to swallow past the sudden lump on his throat at the intimacy of the moment, as all the words he’s saying catch up to him all at once. The inside of his head is noisy with _are_ _we really doing this is this really happening can this be real_ ——

“More importantly,” he forces his head to shut up, “it meant you survived everything the Galra did to you. But… it also ended up being the one thing that could take you away from me. And the one thing…” - he has to pause to swallow again, hating how rough his voice has gotten - “…the one thing that, when I cut it off, brought you back to me.”

He laces his fingers through Shiro’s, marveling at how wide his hand has to stretch to fit. “Now… with this one… you made the Atlas, and you saved us all again, and against all the odds, against everything… you’re here… with me… and…”

He breaks down a bit, a little ashamed to be crying, more frustrated that he can’t get the words out. Feeling overwhelmed, he stumbles through, “…and I just want you to be with me forever… ”

“Keith…” Shiro says softly, in that quiet voice he only ever uses for Keith’s name.

Keith surges on, because whatever Shiro’s about to say has to wait, it _has_ to, until Keith has finished his part.

He manages to pry his own fist open by sheer force of will, hurrying to push the ring down over one large, metal finger. It fits. By some miracle, it fits.

Keith can’t help a tearful smile, unable to meet Shiro’s eyes when he says, “And even if you don’t want to spend the rest of your life with me, I still want you to take the ring, so every time you look at it you can remember that this arm… saved me. Saved _everyone_. And that you’re amazing. And that I love you.”

He finishes it all in a rush, and when he’s done, he feels like all the breath’s gone out of him.

Shiro is quiet for too long. Keith can feel him looking. Keith also feels like his ribs are about to split open, like he can’t breathe.

Maybe he _is_ a little nervous, after all.

Eventually he can’t take it anymore. Panic starts to grip him for real, and if he didn’t _know_ Shiro he would be absolutely sure he’s about to be told off or pushed away or… 

When he gathers up enough courage, he peeks up into Shiro’s grey eyes and whispers, “… Say something.”

Instead, Shiro surges up to kiss him hard. And when he’s stolen the breath right out of Keith all over again, he pulls away to tell him, “You’re my everything. You know that, right? I’m crazy about you. If I could spend this life and every life with you, I would.”

Keith’s joy bubbles over into a laugh. He touches Shiro’s face and his hair, and kisses his nose scar and the corner of his mouth and the top of his cheekbone below his eye. “You better be sure about that, Admiral. Cause no matter where you go, no matter if you even die again. I will always find you.”

Shiro’s smile is like the light of the sun, and when he hugs Keith, he feels like its warmth. “Wouldn’t have it any other way,” he replies, “not now or forever.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come and yell at me about how the ring would get caught in/prevent movement of the joint of the prosthetic finger and is entirely unrealistic as a concept on [tumblr](https://narada-talis.tumblr.com/ask) and/or [twitter](https://twitter.com/solooutomg)!  
> You can reblog this fic [here](https://narada-talis.tumblr.com/post/180682229011/this-life-and-every-life), if you like.


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